Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to ever-increasing numbers of diverse inventory requests, a similarly ever-increasing number of elements and components necessary to handle the volume of requests may reach a level at which monitoring or tracking the status of individual components becomes difficult or even impossible, which may result in inefficient utilization of system resources (e.g., space, equipment, and manpower), lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance.